Rubber footwear



May 9, 1933- E. A. MURPHY l 1,907,856

RUBBER lFOOTWEAR Filed sept.` 5. 1930 Patented May* 9, 1,933

UNITED STATES PATENTV oFFlcE EDWARD ARTHUR IUBPHY, 0F W-'YLDE GREEN,BIRMINGHAM,v ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO DUNLOP .RUBBER LIMITED, OF vFQR'II'.DUNLOP,

a Barman oonroaanoir BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND,

BUBBEB FOOTWEAR Lpplioationmed september 5, 1930, Serial No.

articlesof rubber or waterproof compositionsl in those parts which arelikely to be subjected 1 to extra stress or wear, the bonding betweenthe layers being perfect throughout, and

wherein the sole and/or upper Yparts of the shoe are provided with aroughened or wrinkled or cellular or -embossed surface,

l .thereby providing a shoe of increased durabilityrand improvedappearance, having at the same time provision against any tendency toslipping. p v l Heretofore bathing shoes and similar footwear havegenerally been made by forming the different parts, such as the uppers,sole and insole, of different pieces of compounded crepe rubber, thensecuring these pleces together b adhesion with a cement, or otheru wise,an vulcanizing them. .In making shoes in this manner the bonding betweenthe differentparts is not always perfect, there being planes of divisionor adhesion between the different parts which always do not have the 3desired strength and which, in anyevent, are

weaker than the parts themselves, each particle of which is joined tothe other 1n a sin le mass by cohesion.

n object of my present invention is to 5 provide a bathing shoe, orother article of footwear, in which the entire shoe or the essentialparts thereof, are formed in' a single mass without any planes ofadhesion between the separately formed parts, and in which 4 particularparts may yet be made of rubbers of different appearance or y suited forthatparticular vpart or area of the shoe; and to provide a met od bywhich these shoes may be made.

In accordance with my invention, the h i a +happropriate rer,

characteristics n 479,829, and m creat Britain loctober 5; 192s.

ing shoe lor Vother footwear is made ,from aqueous ldispersions of'rubber materials in any suitable manner, such as by formingdeposits ofthe dispersed material on a suitable form, by dipping, spreading,electrodeposition or otherwise. 'Different elements'of the shoestructure, suchas the sole, the insole, toe and heel reinforcements, andeven ornamentation, may be added in this, manner on arts of the shoestructure. In

the case of lnsoles, `the insole may be -fir'st formed `on the sole ofthe former) then the bottom and sides of the shoe may e formed over theinsole deposit and sides-of the formand finally an outer wearing solemay be formed on the bottom of the shoe structure and, if desired, a toereinforcement may be formed. These various deposits or layers are thusformed in' integral masses without any planes of adhesion inasmuchasthey are all formed in the same process and curedfas a unit. The color,type and characteristics and, if desired, the Vcompounding of thevarious "deposits may, however, diier. For example, the :insole may beformed of highly porous rubber to give a soft cushion and theouter solemay be compounded and treated to give a hard wearin surface while, atthe' same/ time, maintainlng the unity'l of the structure mentionedabove. The sole and upper part may, moreover, be givenappropriate colorsand their surfaces may be given a wrinkled eect or other configurationsuited for their particular purposes. These effects may be obtainedeither by chemical or osmotic effects on `the rubber before curing, orby a suitable embossin before final curing.

The ru bery compositions are used in the ,form of solutions of rubberorlike vegetable resins .in organicv solvents or as emulsions ordispersions comprising natural or artiicial aqueous dispersions ofrubber or similar veg-l etable resins such as tta-persha or balata withor'without the `addition of aqueous dis-` persions or emulsions `ofrubber-like sub- 90 stances such as the so-called synthetic rubber ormineral rubbers or rubber substitutes such as factice or rubber reclaimor rubber waste or oils, e. g. rape oil or vulcanized oils or 5cellulose esters, viscose or proteins, for example, casein.

The dispersions may be concentrated and/or compounded or vice versa. Thecompounding ingredients may be chosen from vulcanizing agents such assulphur, fillers and reinforcing agents such as'whiting, clay, bariumsulphate, lithopone, la-mp black, -gas black, zinc oxide, acceleratorsof vulcanization coloring matters and preservatives or softeners.

Compoundedconcentrates such as` are described in Patent N o. 1,846,164of February 23, 1932, are particularly suitable for use.

Aqueous dispersions of artificial rubber with or without any one or moreof the hereinbefore mentioned compounding ingredients can also beemployed. l

The shoesare constructed yor formed on suitable formers, for example, ofaluminum,

from the solutions ordis ersions hereinbefore specified, b the use o oneor more oper- `ations such as ipping, spreading, spraying,

or electrophoresis. v

The roughening or wrinkling of the surface of the soles andthe uppers,vif desired,

may be effected b the process described and clalmed in Britis Patent No.324,988. The embossing eii'ect may be obtained, for example, by theapplication of rollers having the desired indentations and projectionson their cylindrical surfaces to the rubber surface beforevulcanization.

Furthermore, the seamless soles `and upper parts of shoes may be madefrom sponge 40 rubber, for instance, from aqueous emulsions ordispersions of the kinds hereinbefore specified which havebeen convertedinto a frothy condition wherein the froth comprises a gas and theemulsions or dispersions aforesaid still in the reversible condition,subsequently causing the frothy mass to set to a permanent structure ofirreversible solid material.

Decorative designs can alsoV be provided upon the uppers of the shoeintegrally united therewith. These decorations can be effected by, forexample, the operation of piping with the aid of tubes. which aresupplied with rub- 00 for instance, according to the method describedand claimed in Patent No. 1,832,514. Patent No. 1,832,514 refers to amethod of forming a deposit ,on a form surface from an aqueousdispersion, coagulating the deposit and dippmg it into water containingon its surface bodies of color solution in jazzwise arrangement.

The shoe, if desired, may be provided with a part or parts, for example,an edging or insole produced separately by known means, as for instance,from calendered sheet or rubber fabric.

The accompanying drawing shows by way of example, an embodiment of theinvention. Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a bathing shoe or beach shoeconstructed so as to form a seamless article of rubber compositionreinforced with extra layers of rubber or waterproof compositions inthose parts which are likely to be subjected to extra stress or wear,the bonding between the layers bein perfect throughout and wherein thesole an upper parts of the shoe are rovided with a roughened or wrinkledsur ace.

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation view of the heel portion of the shoeshowing the layers of rubber or waterproof compositions.

According to the figures the shoeshown includesas the upper part 1 `aseamless shellof rubber, prepared for instance, bya. dip ing operationinto the aqueous dispersions a oresaid superimposed upon the insole 2also formed from the aqueous dispersions aforesaid, by for example, adipping operation.

Upon the shell 1 is superimposed, if desired, by dipping, a seamlesssole 3 made to cover the toe-cap 4 and to rise atthe heel 5 for purposesof reinforcement. The heel and toe p0rtions may be formed by a properdipping movement, either automatically or by hand,4

or the entire sole and toe and heel parts may be formed by depositing inany other suitable manner the dispersed material from the latex. Theouter sole layer, which includes 3, 4 and 5 has again a wrinkled effectas, for instance,

according to British Patent No. 324,988. The' top of the shoe isstrengthened by a binding 6. The binding 6 may be applied in the samemanner as other parts, or may be applied in the usual way withadhesives, if desired.

planes of division nor of adhesion between the shell 1 and the inner andouter soles`2 and 3. The entire shoe is one mass in which any givenportion is united cohesively with ad- 110 When the shoe is completedthere are no jacent portions, as contrasted with one in which some partsare joined adhesivel to others. This particular structure is attainedwhile still permitting the characteristics in various parts of the shoeto be varied at will.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my saidinvention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare thatwhat I claim is 1. Rubber footwear comprising a shell, an insole and anouter sole all 1n a single unita mass united cohesively without planesof a hesion, said inner sole being of foam structure, and said outersole being dense.'

2. A method of making rubber footwear my name. v Y

EDWARD ARTHUR MURPHY`

